Posted on August 5, 2026August 5, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: Make a Vise from a Workmate It Worked for Me: Make a Vise from a Workmate by Steve Kennel Originally published in American Lutherie #142, 2021 Now, more than ever, I feel the need to get a grip. The Workmate is a brilliant piece of design, but the heart of the beast is that big flat and conveniently not-necessarily parallel vise/work surface. I was using mine for holding woodcut printing blocks while carving, and found the Workmate itself to be too low and too wobbly. I robbed the vise mechanism from it, welded a piece of angle steel to the underside of each adjuster (Photo 1), and ran screws through those new brackets to mount the vise hardware on a plywood base that could be clamped to my workbench (Photo 2). This made the thing tall enough and sturdy enough to be useful for me. I also made new and shorter plywood jaws, as I wanted the thing to take up as little room as possible. The whole unit now fits under a workbench with a bunch of workshop flotsam when not in use. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on July 16, 2026July 16, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: Modified Zyliss Vise It Worked for Me: Modified Zyliss Vise by Steve Kennel Originally published in American Lutherie #143, 2021 The Zyliss vise is insanely expensive and implies more utility than it offers. I see these occasionally in dusty dark corners of other peoples’ shops, but never poised for action. This one followed me home from the local junk shop for less than the twenty bucks that was in my pocket, which seemed about right. I wanted a guitar neck vise and this looked like it could be adapted. The heart of the beast, the adaptation that makes this thing useful as a guitar vise, is the swivel jaw attachment. Photo 1 shows it in pieces. The swivel bracket is sawn from a short piece of square steel tubing. A 1/4˝ bolt is the pivot pin. The bolt head is capped with rubber, and you don’t need to ask why. Photo 2 shows it assembled and ready to be mounted to the Zyliss jaws with pairs of #10 screws through holes drilled in the Zyliss jaws. The hardwood jaws are faced with plumber’s gasket material, which is tough but soft enough to offer a good grip while not marring the work. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on July 8, 2026July 8, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: Shop-Made Deadblow Hammer It Worked for Me: Shop-Made Deadblow Hammer by Steve Kennel Originally published in American Lutherie #144, 2021 I’m poised to fret a fresh guitar neck and had, in the past, used a well-polished machinist’s hammer. It just seems a little too metal-on-metal for the project, so, well, a dead-blow hammer with non-marring faces seemed to be the thing to get. Some days you just don’t want to leave the driveway and online shopping is annoying. So I scouted around the premises and came up with this. It’s kinda ugly but I really like the price and it exceeds my hopes for its functionality. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on June 3, 2026June 3, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: Flattening a Plank It Worked for Me: Flattening a Plank by Steve Kennel Originally published in American Lutherie #144, 2021 I’m a pathological user of salvage. It can burn up a lot of time, but I’m way past feeling OK about another tree dying for my sins. Plus, I’m cheap. This piece of mystery wood (Photo 1) had been stashed in the rafters of an old chicken house for at least eighty years by the time it found me. It was chicken-house filthy, warped, twisted, and cupped. But as it passed by on its way to the burn pile I was sure that I could see something worthwhile hiding in there. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
